Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator. I also want to thank the Chairman for his support for a number of critical transportation projects in California and in particular, the Alameda Transportation Corridor project. As the Chairman knows, he supported my efforts to designate the Corridor a High Priority Corridor in the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995. That in turn led President Clinton to include in his fiscal year 1997 budget request funding to support a $400 million direct Federal loan for the project, which was approved by Congress last year. As Senator Chafee knows, California has major need for transportation investment due in large part to the tremendous increase in international trade flowing through the state. While this trade has helped bring California out of the economic recession earlier this decade, it has also placed tremendous strain on our infrastructure. No where is this more apparent than at our border with Mexico. Unfortunately, after the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Federal Government provided no special assistance to the border States to deal with the expected doubling of commercial truck traffic through these border trade corridors.”